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SPARTAN (Earth-5875)
SPARTANs are members of numerous UNSC projects devised to create the perfect human soldier, enhancing their physicality, genetics, technology and mental capability, as special fighting units. The first generation of supersoldiers began with the ORION Project, later retroactively named "SPARTAN-I", using operatives drafted from all branches of the UNSC, which was followed by the SPARTAN-II and SPARTAN-III Programs. Both were hugely successful, however, highly controversial because of the dubious ethics of kidnapping children and using them as candidates. The newest SPARTAN-IV Program put the controversy behind and returned to ORION's roots by drafting consenting adults as volunteers, drawn from all UNSC branches, leading to the formation of the N7 special operations unit. Background under the command of King Leonidas I.]] The basic concept for the future SPARTAN programs can be traced to the 24th century with the initial bioengineering protocols developed during the Secession. Ever since, performance enhancing equipment, as well as augmentations became commonplace in human society, and their development advancing at a rapid rate. SPARTANs were deployed numerous times through various human conflicts, from the Insurrection to the First Contact War. The core idea was to create super soldiers as a plan to enhance normal UNSC soldiers to combat rebellion, patrol the various colonies belonging to national superpowers and ensure civilian protection. SPARTANs are named after the Spartans of Ancient Greece, specifically during the Persian invasion led by Xerxes I, part of the Greco-Persian Wars that ranged from 499 to 448 BCE. In the Battle of Thermopylae, 300 Spartans led 5000 Greek soldiers under the command of Leonidas I against the Persian invaders, being able to hold them back. However, it ultimately resulted in all of their deaths, although with the blood of 20,000 Persians on their hands, according to Herodotus, helping Greece defend itself better. The resilience of the Spartans was a result of rigorous training in the agoge, starting at age 7. History Origins The SPARTAN programs would start with the activation of the ORION Project in 2321 during the Secession, launched by the UNSC with numerous high-ranking businesspeople and investors, in an effort to halt the progress of the Sovereign Colonies. The project was named after the mythological Greek hero Orion, where the objective was to progress the bioengineering protocols established in 2164 with the Sudham-Wolcott Genetic Heritage Act. ORION candidates were all drafted members from the UNSC Marine Corps, who underwent extensive tests and augmentations through the project. Unfortunately, the results achieved less than stellar results, forcing the project to end and the few candidates to return to their normal duties. ORION Project forces during Operation VERITAS.]] As the civil unrest in the late 2400s led to the Secession, the CAA believed they would not be able to stop the Insurrectionist movements with their assets, and so they worked alongside ONI to secretly relaunch the ORION Project following numerous acts of terrorism through the Outer Colonies. Beginning on January 29th, 2491, the project initially consisted of 65 volunteers, only to rise to 100 participants. Their first deployment occurred on January 12th, 2496 during Operation CHARLEGMAGNE, where ORIONs were sent to recover a sub-orbital transit station on Eridanus II. They were successful in this mission, with only a single casualty and without any detection. Because of the success of CHARLEGMAGNE, ORIONs started to be used during many covert operations and fleshed out an array of ONI propaganda. The soldiers were later deployed during Operation VERITAS, where they discovered that a large number of CAA agents were secretly involved with the Sovereign Colonies. Operation KALEIDOSCOPE was activated in 2502, with many ORIONs being sent to eliminate rebel bases, and kill Insurrectionist leader Jerald Mulkey Ander, leader of the Sovereign Colonies. They were able to complete their mission on March 13th, 2502, with the assassination of Ander at the hands of ORION Corporal Avery Johnson. Coped with the annihilation of the Sovereign Colonies Armed Forces at Tau Volantis during Operation TREBUCHET, the Sovereign Colonies were all but finished, but their fall and Jerald's death served to give him martyrdom and inspire other movements from rising up against the UEG and the UNSC. By the time the operation had long ended, however, many ORIONs were suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder or developed side effects from the augmentations, including mental illness. With the continuing poor performances and side-effects, Operation TANGLEWOOD was the last mission of ORIONs in the field. The ORION Project was cancelled without incident in mid 2506, and its surviving 165 participants were reassigned to either the UNSC Marine Corps or the UNSC Navy, still exhibiting their augmentation side effects. As a result, most of them were discharged from the Armed Forces, at the excuse of mental illnesses. To guarantee the secret of the project, the augmentation side effects were masked as Boren's Syndrome, a real, deadly disease that killed thousands one century prior. Few of the retiring ORIONs had children, which unknowingly received the enhanced abilities and intelligence given to their parents, but without any mental defects, becoming known as SPARTAN-1.1s. Some ORIONs, like Avery Johnson, were able to retain their normality and continue serving in the UNSC even after the program's decommissioning. The ORION Project and its biochemically augmentation techniques paved the way to the SPARTAN-II Program and its successors, which only improved where ORION fell short: the candidate's ages, which rejected the augmentations and produced less-than-stellar results. The heads of both the SPARTAN-II and SPARTAN-III programs decided to use prepubescent children, which possessed specific genetic markers to use as future supersoldiers, which was highly classified and unethical. Such a thing was different to the SPARTAN-IV Program, which, much like ORION, started to use consenting adults, though at less powerful enhancement procedures. SPARTAN-II Program .]] After the deactivation of the ORION Project in 2506, combating the Insurrectionists during the Secession became a costly and deadly threat for the UNSC to handle and manage. The Insurrectionists had reorganized themselves yet again following Operation TREBUCHET, which led to bigger military engagements across the human colonies. In 2510, the Office of Naval Intelligence started reevaluating the Carver Findings, which had previously predicted that the instability of the Outer Colonies would certainly lead to secessionand civil war. The report by Professor Elias Carver predicted that, unless drastic measures were taken to quell the secessionist attempts, a major rebellion would escalate among the Outer and Inner Colonies, leading to the downfall of the Unified Earth Government and the UNSC. These claims were near the same to the prevision by ONI. Meanwhile, the then-young Dr. Catherine Halsey emerged with a thesis that added to the Carver Findings, concluding the future would be even bleaker, with a prevision of thirty year war and five billion casualties, which could led to the downfall of humanity. She then presented these results to ONI Vice Admiral Michael Stanforth, who revealed he came to the same conclusions that she did. Working to prevent this, Halsey started to work for the Office of Naval Intelligence. Titled ORION II Project, it was started by Halsey in 2511, who established it as the best solution to safeguard humanity from the dangers of the Secession through UEG space. Not only that, but Halsey developed various different objectives with her project; both to quell the insurgency during its infancy without widespread military and civilian casualties as well as to reduce the cost of conventional pacification for the UNSC. Her program severely deviated from the ORION Project. Among these changes, was the incredibly controversial nature of the project's candidates, who were selected by a very strict and select gene-pool and fit an age criteria, including the pre-determined mental and physical attributes sought by Halsey. Upon the beginning of their service, they would be instilled with high military values and the intricacies of war, which could not be taught to the Marines and sailors the UNSC had been enlisting. All of these setbacks led the program to seek for children, who would be raised and shaped by war from a young age. Duo to the controversial nature of using children and the importance it held to the greater Secession conflict, the ORION II Project became the most secretive program that the UNSC ever saw. The second biggest change was the choice to equip its candidates with an advanced exoskeleton which would not only keep its user safer, but also much stronger to combat enemies. This new armor came with the drawback of only enhanced individuals being able to use it, and thus turning them in guinea pigs. After being disatisfied with the name ORION II Project, she renamed the program according to her own preference and to distance itself from the original failed project, deciding to name it the SPARTAN-II Program, named after the ancient Spartans of Greece. Among the scrapped names she considered were [[Wikipedia:Praetorian Guard|'Praetorians']], [[Wikipedia:Landsknecht|'Landsknecht']], [[Wikipedia:Immortals (Achaemenid Empire)|'Immortals']], [[Wikipedia:Minutemen|'Minutemen']], [[Wikipedia:Titan (mythology)|'Titans']], Argonauts, Odysseus, Olympians, Zulu, Kronos, Promethean, Nemesis, Daedalus, Heracles, Viking, and Hyperion. Despite the unethical means for the creation of the soldiers and the enormous budgetary risk placed in the UNSC, the project was accepted by the Office of Naval Intelligence. The funding only allowed for the inclusion of 300 children. By 2517, Halsey had already located 150 candidates after studying their DNA, which had been gathered at the vaccination programs conducted through the colonies by the CAA, but by the time the funding had already severely decreased, leading to the allowance of 75 children. In the same year, 75 children from both sexes had been kidnapped by the Office of Naval Intelligence and replaced with clones in order to ensure the secrecy of the project. These colones later died horrible deaths due to medical complications. The use of clones was regarded as the most controversial among all other unethical decisions taken in the program, which severely angered Admiral Margaret Paragonsky, CINCONI of the Office of Naval Intelligence, once the information regarding the clones was leaked to the rest of ONI. Paragonsky believed that the use of clones was unecessary and made the process even more painful to the families of the kidnaped children, stating that Halsey only used them in order to ease her conscience and do not embrace the actions of what she had done. After their capture, the SPARTAN-II children were taken to Reach FLEETCOM Military Complex, on Reach, to train under Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez and the Auton Déjà, both who aided Dr. Halsey during the process. The names of the SPARTANs became a mixture of their first names and designation number. During the first years of their training, the SPARTAN-IIs endured the harshest of environments and training to become ultimate soldiers, which was complemented with advanced education, including mathematics, science, history, philosophy, and military tactics. Despite the brutality of the training, Mendez would always encourage honor, respect and discipline among the SPARTANs, teaching them multiple kill techniques, the difference between right and wrong, as well as sociopolitical stances on the conflict. John-117 rose to become the most prominent candidate and the overall eader of the SPARTANs. Mendez continued their training until 2525, where they underwent the SPARTAN-II Enhancement Program. The procedure killed 30 of the children, leaving twelve others crippled. Those who were crippled or deformed by the enhancements went to join the Office of Naval Intelligence, while two of the 33 who survived the enhancement with no side effects commited suicide after encountering their clones. The bodies of the deceased SPARTAN-IIs were cryogenically frozen and sent towards a star. With the start of the First Contact War, the initial purpose of the SPARTAN-II Program was changed from that of fighting Insurrectionists to facing the massive power of the Covenant, leading to their training be rapidly accelerated for the final phase: Project MJOLNIR, a powered exoskeleton that made the SPARTANs humanity's first line of defense against the alien alliance. Despite the Covenant's superiority, the SPARTANs proved to be incredibly effective against them, delaying attacks, destroying entire armadas, and saving numerous human lives against the empire. In 2547, ONI unveiled the SPARTAN-II Program to the general public to give hope to the civilian population and boost the morale of UNSC troops. The Covenant also noticed the SPARTANs, both with fear and respect, which earned them the moniker of "Demons". As the war waged on, most SPARTAN-IIs started to die during many assignments against the Covenant, but as their victories against the alien alliance was the main propaganda seller of the UNSC, the Office of Naval Intelligence issued Directive 930, where it was stated all SPARTANs killed in action (KIA), were to be declared missing in action (MIA), or wounded in action (WIA), which would help retain the illusion that SPARTANs were invincible. By August 27th, 2552, 25 of the last remaining SPARTANs, except for Grey Team, were assigned to NAVSPECWEAP and recalled to Reach in order to start Operation RED FLAG, an ultra secret mission that HIGHCOM believed would bring an end to the First Contact War. The SPARTANs would command a Covenant ship, locate High Charity, and return with one of the hegemony's Hierarchs to force a ceasefire. The Auton synthetic Cortana would serve with John-117 and serve as the hacker of the strike force. The operation was cancelled, however, with the arrival of the Covenant on Reach, leading to the Fall of Reach, leading to the deaths of most SPARTAN-IIs. Some were able to hide at Castle Base, while two, John-117 and Linda-058, were able to escape aboard the [[UNSC Pillar of Autumn (Earth-5875)|UNSC Pillar of Autumn]], while Linda herself was placed in cryosleep after sustaining fatal injuries by plasma after a Covenant attack on Gamma Station. The escape of the Autumn led its crew to Installation 04, leading to a massive battle between the UNSC and the Covenant which ended with John-117 and Cortana destroying the ring to prevent the spread of the ancient species known as the xenomorphs. After the conflict, its survivors returned to Reach and reunited with the surviving SPARTANs, where they were able to steal a Covenant ship and return to Earth. These SPARTANs would play key roles during the Battle of Earth, the Battle of Installation 05, the Battle of Onyx, and the Battle of Installation 00, ending with John-117 eliminating the Prophet of Truth alongside Arbiter Thel 'Vadam and the xenomorphs, destroying the Covenant for good and ending the war. At the end of the conflict, he and Cortana ended lost in space on the remains of the [[UNSC Forward Unto Dawn (Earth-5875)|UNSC Forward Unto Dawn]], being declared missing in action and not being seen until 2561. By the end of the end of the war, only nineteen SPARTAN-IIs survived: John-117, Fred-104, Kelly-087, Linda-058, Douglas-042, Jerome-092, Alice-130, Naomi-010, Jai-006, Adriana-111, Mike-120, Leon-011, Robert-025, August-099, Randall-037, Otto-031, Victor-101, Margaret-053, and Roma-143. While the last five were killed since, Red Team (Douglas, Jerome, and Alice) spent most of the First Contact War in cryosleep aboard the [[UNSC Spirit of Fire (Earth-5875)|UNSC Spirit of Fire]], only being awakened in 2565, thirteen years after the end of the war. Grey Team was drifting in space and in cryosleep after an important operation in 2552, being found and recovered in early 2564 by the sangheili Fleetmaster Rojka 'Kaasan, who placed them under stasis until they were awakened weeks later. Naomi was transferred to the classified ONI unit Kilo-Five in 2553, where she continued to serve. Randall had been missing in action ever since 2532, and hid under the identity of "Randall Aiken" on the Outer colony Sedra, becoming a Colonel within the Sedran Colonial Guard. He participated in a secret mission to capture Alerian smugglers, where he sacrificed himself to save the operation's survivors. Omega Team (August, Robert, and Leon) were able to survive the war, but their current status is classified. The surviving SPARTAN-IIs joined the newly-founded N7 unit of the UNSC Navy alongside the surviving SPARTAN-IIIs and newly formed SPARTAN-IVs. Together with the IIIs, the IIs were responsible for training the IVs. SPARTAN-III Program .]] After the tremendous success of the SPARTAN-II Program for the UEG, their effectiveness in combat being told as tales by civilians and soldiers alike seeing them tearing down Covenant soldiers in combat and how they turned the tide in crucial battles. However, there were too few Spartan-IIs, as the result of Dr. Catherine Halsey's specific criteria of selection and the many deaths of candidates during the augmentation procedures. The high mortality rate and kidnappings was also a massive problem for the Office of Naval Intelligence, as well as the funding of training and MJOLNIR armor, which costed as much as an entire battle group. However, despite the SPARTAN-II Program officially remaining a secret until 2547, their exploits and feats in battle had became public knowledge and highly revered within the UNSC, proving a huge morale boost in the face of annihilation. This proved to be a problem for ONI, who preferred working in secrecy. The SPARTAN-IIIs were devised by Colonel James Ackerson as cheap and expendable super soldiers, with training consisting of 300 men and women at the same time in much tougher and dangerous environments compared to that of the SPARTAN-IIs. The IIIs were sent on highly dangerous, classified missions that the UNSC was unable to accomplish even with ODST squads. Despite the casualty rate for SPARTAN-IIIs being at 100% on various missions, ONI saw all operations as strategic successes, as despite the deaths, these missions resulted in victories against the Covenant, for the most part, and were seen as trading expendable lives against the Covenant war machine. ONI believed that enough Spartan-IIIs would survive to train future Spartans. However, this was never fully realized duo to budgetary restrictions and the fact that the augmentation procedures were only compatible with a fraction of the human population. On December 27th, 2531, Alpha Company, the first group of SPARTAN-IIIs, was moved to Camp Currahee, on Onyx, to be trained by Spartan-II Kurt Ambrose. Of all the 497 candidates conscripted, only 300 graduated. They all survived the augmentations, and began their work in November 3rd, 2536, becoming exemplary soldiers, seeing action against Insurrectionists on Mamore, New Constantinople, and the Bonanza Asteroid Belt. Nine months later, they were deployed on Operation PROMETHEUS, with the intent of destroying a Covenant shipyard on the asteroid K7-49, where all of them were killed, although the mission was a success. Some of them, however, were moved from Alpha Company by Ambrose and Franklin Mendez before Operation PROMETHEUS, being assigned to other units, both in the UNSC Navy and other branches of the UNSC Armed Forces. Most of them were equipped with MJOLNIR. Six of them were still active as of early 2552; Carter-A259, Jun-A266, Emile-A239, and Thom-A293 (all serving on Noble Team), and Rosenda-A344 and Kevin-A282. Soon after Operation PROMETHEUS, Beta Company was approved in 2537, with 418 candidates being conscripted in 2539, and with 300 graduating. Because he was still disheartened with the loss of Alpha Company, Kurt focused on a tougher training program, focusing on unit cohesiveness. Even though Beta had superior training compared to Alpha, they were all slain by the Covenant during Operation TORPEDO in 2537. Only two SPARTAN-IIIs survived, Tom-B292 and Lucy-B091. Much like Alpha Company, some members of Beta Company were deemed too valuable to waste in suicide missions by Kurt, Mendez, and Ackerson, and were thus pulled out from Operation TORPEDO. Some of them were assigned to cover roles, despite Ackerson's insistence on the contrary. These Spartans, which included a select few, such as Kat-B320 and David-B312 (both who became members of Noble Team), were issued with special equipment, such as MJOLNIR. Gamma Company was conceived months after Operation TORPEDO, and its candidates were trained by the only surviving SPARTAN-IIIs from Beta Company, Tom and Lucy. Despite their smaller numbers, Kurt regarded Gamma Company as the finest of all SPARTAN-IIIs companies, with 330 candidates being selected, on average only six years old, with 280 graduating. Gamma Company received orders to deploy to Reach during the Fall of Reach, where most of them perished. Fifteen Spartan-IIIs remained on Onyx, only to fend of for their lives during the Onyx Conflict, with Team Saber, who fought alongside Spartan-II Blue Team, being the only survivors, successfully being able to defeat the Covenant. They were ultimately able to escape from the shield world. Following the end of the First Contact War, the survivors of Gamma Company were integrated into the newly formed UNSC branch, the N7. Team Saber was recovered by ONI, and continued to serve alongside Blue Team until July 2556, with Margaret Paragonsky reassigned them to the top-secret Ferret unit. They were listed as KIA so their illegal augmentations would remain a secret. Samira-G059 was one of the SPARTAN-IIIs to remain active in the N7, being sent on a covert operation to assassinate the leader of the Servants of the Abiding Truth Avu Med 'Telcam. SPARTAN-IV Program aboard the [[UNSC Infinity (Earth-5875)|UNSC Infinity]].]]After the SPARTAN-IV was fully realized, Office of Naval Intelligence Section III authorized a prototype phase without the knowledge of the UNSC High Command, which was intended to produce super soldiers that would make MJOLNIR armor obsolete. From the initial ten participants, only one, Ilsa Zane, survived the augmentations, but was driven mad by the experience and detained by ONI. After the end of the First Contact War, the SPARTAN-IV Program was penned by former SPARTAN-II Lieutenant Commander Musa-096, who was crippled during its augmentation process. Citing the efficiency and success of the SPARTAN-II and SPARTAN-III programs, he advocated that the SPARTANs were of prime importance for the survival of humanity during the course of the war, being approved by Admiral Margaret Paragonsky. The initial plans were for both SPARTAN-III lead Colonel James Ackerson and SPARTAN-II head Doctor Catherine Halsey to take over the project, but following Ackerson's death during the Battle of Mare Erythraeum and Halsey's impressionist after the Battle of Onyx, it was decided that Musa himself and surviving Alpha Company and Noble Team member Jun-A266 would take over as heads. The first class of SPARTAN-IVs consisted of 145 members and became active on January 7th, 2554, and after its initial success, Musa and Jun were able to fund a second class that started in January 7th, 2557, having 90% more members. SPARTAN-IVs serve under the UNSC Navy in a special force known as N7, although a select few work in close function with the Office of Naval Intelligence. The surviving SPARTAN-IIs and SPARTAN-IIIs of the First Contact War are integrated in the N7 alongside the SPARTAN-IVs. Category:Earth-5875 Category:UNSC Special Forces (Earth-5875) Category:SPARTANs of Earth-5875 Category:UNSC projects (Earth-5875) Category:Created by Draft227